


Still a Prisoner?

by SeaSpectre160



Category: Di-Gata Defenders
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Gen, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-15
Updated: 2010-03-15
Packaged: 2018-02-13 15:54:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2156421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeaSpectre160/pseuds/SeaSpectre160
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Even after being freed, Adam's father still isn't completely there. Can his son convince him it's finally over?</p><p>Sequel to 'Prisoner'</p>
            </blockquote>





	Still a Prisoner?

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, folks, here's the long-awaited sequel to '[Prisoner](http://archiveofourown.org/works/2143734)', 'Still a Prisoner?'! I know, the title kinda sucks, but it's the best I could come up with, besides 'Prisoner II'. So this is about a week after Adam, Aaron, and Kolt are rescued from the Order prison, and I just felt that Kolt's sudden mental recovery was a little too fast, so I've written this to make it more realistic. This much damage does not go away instantaneously. I would've had this up in maybe November, but my last story, 'War of Yllauras', took longer than expected. Nevertheless, this is finally up, so enjoy!
> 
> DISCLAIMER: I do not own Di-Gata Defenders or its characters. I wish I was that lucky, because then we'd have a freaking third season! I mean, honestly! They put a cliffhanger for it at the end of Season Two, and don't deliver on it! However, there is a good Di-Gata fic called 'Sigildancers' that does a good job of it. So check that out; it's on my favourites list on my profile. What I do own, however, is Nykki and Kolt.

Darkness had fallen over Rados. The city streets were abandoned, doors and windows shut. Of course, what else would one expect in the dead of night? The only lights still on were located in local taverns, which only had a few patrons tonight. Even though the dangerous times had passed, people were still wary of the night, mostly due to force of habit.

At the dojo of the Di-Gata Defenders, it was mostly quiet, except for one man, who was tossing and turning violently in his sleep. His face was covered in permanent scars, clearly signs of torture. Eventually, he sat bolt upright, letting out a wrangled, bone-chilling scream.

The sound of running footsteps could be heard, and soon a teenage boy burst in. He sat on the bed beside the man, and hugged him tightly. The man’s panicked, quick breaths began to slow as he gradually calmed down.

One of the moons came out from behind the clouds, giving off enough light to reveal that the two of them bore a distinct family resemblance to each other, and that the boy also had several scars on his face, neck, and arms, though not nearly as many.

After a long period of silence, the boy finally spoke. “It’s okay, Dad. It was just another dream; it’s not real.”

“That’s what I keep telling myself.” The man’s voice was hoarse, as if he hadn’t used it in a long time. “Adam, just go back to bed.”

His son, Adam, didn’t move an inch. “You’ve been telling me that every night for the past week, remember? I didn’t leave you then, and I won’t leave you now.”

“It just still feels like I’m in that cell. I’ve been stuck in there for so long; it’s practically all I know.”

“Well, maybe if you try to remember what your life was like before that, it could help.”

Adam's father took a deep, shuddering breath. “It’s all so fuzzy, though. I don’t know if...”

“Just try. Like… maybe could you tell me how you and Mom met?”

“All right. Um... y-your mother, Nykki. We... we first met when a bunch of Rougon attacked her brother’s farm. I took down about ten of them, just to impress her, but I also destroyed half the barn in the process.” He made a short chuckling noise, the tiniest hint of the smallest of smiles on his face, though only for less than a second. “I had to help rebuild it. Eventually, she warmed up to me, and we got married by the next year. Then you were born not long after, and I figured we’d be safe. But then… when you were four, the issue with Nazmul came up, and right before I left, your mother looked me in the eye and said to me: ‘Kolt, just promise me you’ll be careful and come back safe’. I promised her I would, but then I was captured. That was the last time I saw either of you. And when they were dragging us off, we passed our house and there was nothing left. It had been completely burned to the ground. Once we found out you were the only child of the Defenders who hadn’t gotten away, I thought I’d lost everything. Even when you were put into the same prison two weeks ago, I didn’t believe it could be true.”

“But it was – it _is_ true. I’m right here, I’m not going anywhere, and we’re out of that hellhole. It’s over.”

“Why didn’t you come and get us?”

“What?”

“Aaron and I spent over a decade in that prison, but no one came for us. Why?”

“Everyone thought you guys had died in that battle. And... I didn’t know you even existed until recently.”

Kolt looked slightly heartbroken at this. “What do you mean?”

“When I disappeared, it was because Brackus had kidnapped me. He told me... he told me _he_ was my father, and I believed him. Even now, I can’t remember anything before my life with him, except this memory of Mom dying and someone dragging me away. Well, I wouldn’t say my life with _him_ ; he was never really there. He put me through intense training for the next six years, trying to turn me into some loyal, obedient Yin-tos mercenary, and whenever I displeased him on his visits to my dojo, he’d...”

Adam paused, reaching for the long armband he wore on his right arm, and hesitated before grabbing the end of it and pulling it off. Underneath was a red burn scar spiralling around his forearm from his wrist to just below the elbow. “This was the worst I ever got from him,” he stated dully, “Messed a cast up and destroyed half the dojo. I’m not sure if I ever saw him angrier than he was that day. And I never did manage to get back at him for everything. I ran away when I was ten, and I’ve only encountered him a few times under that, but never under the right circumstances. I guess I could’ve gone for him the first time I saw him after that, on Callisto, but there was a big fight going on at the time, and the other Defenders were involved. They had no idea about my connection to him, and… their trust in me was already kind of in question. If they knew… So I didn’t say anything, and for some reason, neither did he. I guess he had more important things to focus on besides a failed _project_. Next time I saw him, a few days later, I was in the middle of a scheme to get one of the Pure Stones away from Nazmul, so I had to leave that alone, at least until my plan failed, and I was tossed into a cell next to him. Then I got to yell at him, at least. I was still under the impression he was my father then, so I decided to play the part of the loyal son and get him to help me, though I ditched him a couple minutes later.

“But I’m getting off topic here. After I ran away, I got caught up in some business with the Rougon, and that became my life. About a year ago, we were about to jump a small group of hikers. I overheard them talking about the Pure Stones before the action, so I pretended to rescue them and be their friend to try and get the Stones for myself.” He laughed. “Those travellers turned out to be Seth, Mel, Erik, and Kara. Everything changed for me that day. I got closer to them, and they taught me a few things I never got the chance to learn as a kid. You know, honour and self-sacrifice and all that. Then one time, I ran into Nazmul, and he told me the truth about my origins. I wondered why for a long time, and I still do some days. I guess he just didn’t want me on Brackus’s side – Brackus was kinda trying to take over the Order of Infinis – and it _was_ a pretty good distraction technique, considering the fact that he blasted me into a wall a second later.”

“That sounds just like something Nazmul would do. So what happened with you and Brackus after that?”

“Nothing, unfortunately. The next time I saw him, he was pretending he'd lost his memory and was ‘helping’ us. I figured it wouldn’t do any good to try and get revenge for something I _thought_ he didn’t remember. I left the team again a little while after that, and by the time I came back, he was dead. It was just a month ago, actually.”

“Good.” Kolt paused. “What did you mean when you said you’d left the team _again_?”

“Oh, that. Yeah, I... wasn’t exactly what you’d call a ‘permanent’ member of the Defenders. I would leave for long periods of time, come back and help out for a little bit, then run off again. Usually I never actually _came_ back, really, it was more like I ran into the others accidentally. But it’s only ever made a whole load of trouble for us, so I decided to stay for good after we defeated the Ethos. When those guys captured me two weeks ago, the thing that worried me the most wasn’t if I was going to live or die, but that the others would think I was just ditching them again, so then they wouldn’t go looking for me. I’m pretty sure Seth had that thought for a while. I had to trash half the area I was in during the struggle to make sure they knew something was up, and I had to leave my Phase Stone behind as a clue. That was one of the hardest parts, since I never go anywhere without it, save the one or two times I left it with the others.”

“But if you’d promised them you’d stay, wouldn’t they notice anyway?”

Adam rubbed the back of his neck. “Well... I’m not really the best at keeping promises, unless I _really_ mean them. It comes from spending half a dozen years of being a Rougon. I used to be known for pretending to switch to be bad guys’ side, then pull off big double-crosses once I have what I want. Seth always gets mad when I do that, even if it winds up helping us. I might have something to do with the fact that those plans never work out quite the way I intended, and I have to improvise. That, and I never exactly _tell_ the other Defenders when I’m going to pull a stunt like that, so they’re usually convinced I’ve betrayed them for real.”

“They trust you after all that?”

“Well, yeah. After a few hours. Or days. Well, I still think Seth doesn’t trust me. We just can’t get along.”

“Really? I remember when you were younger, you two were the best of friends.”

Adam burst out laughing. “Yeah, right!”

“I’m not kidding. I was always taking you over to his house for play dates, or he’d come over to ours. The two of you would always shout and scream when it was time to go home.” Kolt smiled broadly at the memory.

Adam grinned back. “Finally, I get a smile out of you! Aaron and I have been trying all week, and nothing!”

-

“Kolt?” Rion called softly as he tapped on the door, “Kolt, it’s Rion. Breakfast is ready.” Rion was glad he’d remembered to announce himself. Twelve or thirteen years of being stuck in a prison cell had made the old Defender more than a little paranoid. An unexpected entrance could send him into a panic attack. So it had practically become an unwritten rule to announce oneself before entering his room. Rion got no response from inside, so he grabbed the doorknob. “I’m coming in.”

He knew right away what’d happened last night: father and son had pulled another all-nighter. Adam was sitting on the floor, leaning against the side of the bed, fast asleep. Gently, Rion nudged his friend and teammate with his foot.

Adam slowly opened his eyes and looked around blearily. “What?” he asked, “Is it morning yet?”

“Yeah. You guys have another midnight chat again?”

The former thief stood up and stretched his stiff limbs. “Uh-huh.”

“So how’s he doing? You’re the only one he ever talks to, so all those all-nighters you’ve been pulling must be doing something for him.”

Adam glanced back down at his father. “Yeah. I think he’s finally starting to move on. He’ll be fine.”

The two Defenders started to leave the room. “By the way,” Adam continued, “You should hear some of the stories he told me last night. The craziest was that when we were kids, Seth and I were actually...”

 

THE END

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so that's the end of it. The part where Adam tells his story is longer than when I originally wrote it, but it gives my guess to a question I've recently been thinking about. Adam and Brackus first interact on screen in the episode BEFORE they're revealed to be fake father and son, but they don't even act like they recognize each other. Brackus just shoves Adam and Erik aside to get to Kara, and that's it. So my guess is that Adam didn't make an issue of it because he didn't want the other Defenders to know, and Brackus didn't because he had more important things to take care of.
> 
> The scar Adam has under his armband is originally from my continuation of Adamizgr8's 'Shadow or Light?', and so is his mother Nykki's name. I figured I'd mix that in, just for the heck of it. By the way 'Shadow or Light?' is a great story that you should check out, along with the ending I wrote because the original version hasn't been finished, and is likely not to. Don't worry, I put all the disclaimers up, so that I'm not claiming the original story is mine in any way.
> 
> Oh, and check out my other Di-Gata stories 'Father and Son', which is 'Adam and Eve of Destruction' through Kara's perspective of the Adam-Brackus situation, and 'No Love', a songfic about Adam running away.
> 
> Lastly, Read and Review please!


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